Wisdom in Correction

Tonight we are looking at Nehemiah 5-6 and something that works in our favor is Ken preaching on Acts 6 a couple weeks ago. At the beginning of Nehemiah 5, we see an outcry made by the people against their Jewish brothers. We are going to see that their is this unjust, un-Christlike way that is being carried about by some of the Jewish people against their own fellow Jews. So when Ken preached on the Hellenists in Acts 6 and the way that the church responded to those complaints, we can really incorporate a lot of that into Nehemiah 5. What we are going to focus on in Nehemiah 5 is that there is wisdom in correction. Now not many people enjoy being corrected. I know that I’m guilty of being corrected and taking it negatively. But correction is a critical part in living wise and God-fearing lives. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;” Paul doesn’t highlight correction as necessarily a bad thing but as a necessary thing so as we see in 2 Timothy 3:17 “so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” If we want to be equipped, we need to be corrected. What we are going to see in Nehemiah 5 is that there is a good way to be corrected, there is a way that we should respond when Biblical correction needs to take place. Then in Nehemiah 6, we are going to talk about eliminating distractions and outside voices when it comes to doing the work of the Lord. Connected with that, we are going to ask the question: What qualifies a work to be a good work? So, let’s pray and then we will start to walk through Nehemiah 5.

Godly Correction

What is the complaint that is made by many of the Jewish men and women in Nehemiah 5? Nehemiah 5:2-5 tells us:

Nehemiah 5:2–5 NASB95

For there were those who said, “We, our sons and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain that we may eat and live.” There were others who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses that we might get grain because of the famine.” Also there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. “Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”

Derek Kidner summarizes the problem in this way: “In this chapter the enemies and the city walls recede from view, to reveal a more subtle problem. Here the menace is hunger and exploitation, and the structure at risk is the community itself.” When Nehemiah hears this, he is infuriated. He knows that this is wrong. Here are these Jewish nobles and leaders among the people that are taking advantage of their own kinsmen. In verse 6 Nehemiah accuses these people of exacting usury, of charging unheard of interest on what is being given to the people. The people were being exploited so that the leaders of the people could make money. What’s to be done about this? Nehemiah 5:8-11 says:

Nehemiah 5:8–11 NASB95

I said to them, “We according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?” Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. Again I said, “The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? “And likewise I, my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let us leave off this usury. “Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them.”

If we quickly walk through Nehemiah’s reasoning, he is reminding these people who have just returned from the nations that they and their forefathers were sold to the nations and this people have been redeemed. People were returning from exile and Nehemiah asks, “Would you sell your own brother? And to yourself? What you are doing is not good.” Now Nehemiah isn’t just saying that this is a bad look for the people. There is a Biblical command against what the people were doing. In Deuteronomy 23:19–20 we read, “You shall not charge interest to your countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest. “You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to possess.” In Leviticus 25:35-37 the Lord says even more:

Leviticus 25:35–37 NASB95

‘Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. ‘Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you. ‘You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain.

Not only are the people to not exact interest from their own people, they are commanded to do what they can to sustain them. In verse 36, we see a direct connection between not charging your own an extreme amount of interest and revering and honoring the Lord. In the eyes of God, this is serious. These leaders aren’t just being dishonest to their own people, they are being dishonest to the Lord, they are breaking God’s law. When Nehemiah brings this before the people, it is almost as if he were saying, “Breaking God’s law is what got our people in this predicament to begin with and you want to keep breaking it? How unwise can you be?” They dishonored God’s law and were thrown into exile and now that they are back, they risk falling into that same cycle. How do they respond? Nehemiah 5:12-13

Nehemiah 5:12–13 NASB95

Then they said, “We will give it back and will require nothing from them; we will do exactly as you say.” So I called the priests and took an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. I also shook out the front of my garment and said, “Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said, “Amen!” And they praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise.

From what it seems, the people don’t argue back. They don’t seem to try and justify what they were doing. They appear to be immediately impacted by what Nehemiah has brought to their attention and they said that they will do exactly as Nehemiah has said. They are going to give back what they have taken and they are not going to require anything else from the people. Nehemiah wants the people to recognize the severity of what they are saying and an oath is sworn in the presence of the priests. Then in verse 13, we see Nehemiah present a symbolic act to visualize the oath that the people are making by shaking out the front of his garment. Derek Thomas writes about this, “Observing a practice that would have been well known to the people- hiding treasures in the folds of their long, flowing garments kept secure by a belt- Nehemiah shook his garment, causing the items to fall to the ground. His audience would have been in no doubt about the visual experience: if they did not heed Nehemiah’s charges, God would shake them from his embrace and safekeeping. The people were being invited to participate in an act of covenant-keeping, with dire consequences of they refused.” What we see in these verses is that Godly-correction requires Godly-reactions. When Christians present to us a legitimate problem or sin that we are guilty of, we are often far too quick to just brush it off or minimize it. No where there is sin, there needs to be immediate correction. There isn’t a, “Let’s take a few days and pray about it and we will see what decision I come to.” When there is a clear violation of Scripture, there needs to be a clear sign of repentance.

Nehemiah’s generosity in chapter 5